From 1907 on the Brandýs Chateau frequently played host to Archduke Karl Franz Josef, the commander of a dragoon squadron based in Stará Boleslav. The archduke settled at the Brandýs Chateau after marrying Archduchess Zita Bourbon in 1911. After Franz Ferdinand d`Este was assassinated in Sarajevo, thearchduke became - unexpectedly - the crown prince and in 1916 the Emperor Karl I. In 1917 he decided to purchase the Brandýs Chateau. The last imperial couple to get to the Austro-Hungarian throne spent - as the empress once said - the happiest days of their lives in Brandýs.